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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002851 
 
STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD 
 
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM 
NSC FOR NEA STAFF 
 
SECDEF WASHDC FOR USDP/ASD-PA/ASD-ISA 
HQ USAF FOR XOXX 
DA WASHDC FOR SASA 
JOINT STAFF WASHDC FOR PA 
CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL FOR POLAD/USIA ADVISOR 
COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE FOR PAO/POLAD 
COMSIXTHFLT FOR 019 
 
JERUSALEM ALSO ICD 
LONDON ALSO FOR HKANONA AND POL 
PARIS ALSO FOR POL 
ROME FOR MFO 
 
SIPDIS 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR IS
 
SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION 
 
-------------------------------- 
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶1.  Mideast 
 
¶2.  Anti-Terrorism Efforts 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Israel Hayom reported that U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Peace 
Senator George Mitchell is slated to arrive in Israel next Thursday. 
 The reported purpose of his visit, which the newspaper says will 
also include Cairo and Ramallah, is to make PM Benjamin Netanyahu 
and PA President Mahmoud Abbas renew the negotiations.  The 
Jerusalem Post reported that Mitchell is expected to declare a 
framework for peace talks aimed at reconciling the Palestinian 
demand for a state based on the 1967 lines, with Israel's goal of a 
Jewish state with secure and recognized borders.   The Jerusalem 
Post quoted diplomatic officials as saying that Israel is very close 
to agreeing with the U.S. on terms of reference for the talks that 
will be very close to guidelines spelled out by Secretary of State 
Hillary Clinton in her statement following Prime Minister Binyamin 
Netanyahu's announcement in late November of a 10-month settlement 
moratorium.  In the statement, which The Jerusalem Post says is 
Qexpected to be the touchstone for the diplomatic process for some 
time,Q Clinton said, "We believe that through good-faith 
negotiations the parties can mutually agree on an outcome which ends 
the conflict and reconciles the Palestinian goal of an independent 
and viable state based on the 1967 lines, with agreed swaps, and the 
Israeli goal of a Jewish state with secure and recognized borders 
that reflect subsequent developments and meet Israeli security 
requirements." 
 
All media (banners in Israel Hayom and Makor Rishon-Hatzofe) quoted 
a Hamas-affiliated Web site that cited a claim by Abu Abdullah, the 
head of Hamas intelligence in Gaza, that Israel attempted to kidnap 
a senior Hamas official in order to obtain information about Gilad 
ShalitQs detention the place and convey it to Shin Bet.  Israel 
Radio reported that a Hamas delegation is supposed to convey to 
Egypt its response to IsraelQs offer regarding the Shalit deal. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted Israeli defense officials as saying 
yesterday, a day after the High Court of Justice ordered the IDF to 
open Route 443 to Palestinian traffic, that the Defense Ministry is 
preparing legal arguments against an expected spate of court 
petitions to open other roads currently only open to Israeli cars 
because of security concerns.  Yediot reported that PM Netanyahu 
told associates that the ruling endangers peopleQs lives.  HaQaretz 
and Maariv quoted right-wing Knesset members as saying that the 
Supreme CourtQs ruling is proof that the courtQs composition must be 
altered. 
 
Maariv cited the assessment of Western diplomats that U.S. 
intelligence, which Qhas understoodQ that it had erred in its 
determined 2007 assertion that Iran is not driving to procure 
nuclear weapons.  The newspaper reported that the international 
intelligence community and the Mossad are awaiting the publication 
of the new U.S. report on the subject.  A headline in the daily 
reads: QThe United StatesQ Moral Stock-Taking.Q  The Jerusalem Post 
reported that Canadian human rights activist and former Justice 
Minister and Attorney-General Irwin Cotler revealed at a Jerusalem 
press conference yesterday a petition he is spearheading that calls 
on governments and the U.N. to take immediate and massive diplomatic 
and economic action against Iran.  Cotler accused the Iranian 
government of violating international law regarding nuclear weapons 
development, incitement to genocide, state-sponsored terrorism and 
human rights. 
 
Maariv reported that Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva 
is initiating a peace plan between Israel and the Palestinians. 
 
The Jerusalem PostQs Web page quoted Israeli officials as saying 
yesterday that the government plans today to update its decision to 
freeze settlement construction and thereby return some of the 
decision-making powers to the local settlement councils.  Under the 
current decision, made last month by the government, all 
construction is forbidden in the 150 settlements and outposts in the 
West Bank.  A revision of the order is currently underway and will 
give local councils in the West Bank the authority to approve 
projects related to public infrastructure and small repairs on 
existing homes. 
 
HaQaretz reported that outgoing Attorney General Menachem Mazuz is 
expected to decide whether Israeli-Arab actor and director Mohammed 
Bacri should be indicted for his controversial film QJenin, Jenin, 
the subject of which is war crimes possibly committed by IDF troops 
in Operation Defensive Shield in April 2002. 
 
 
Maariv quoted associates of Kadima head Tzipi Livni as saying that 
she will agree to Knesset Member Shaul MofazQs suggestions that the 
party primaries be moved up.  The associates explained that 
opposition within the party will thus be eliminated. 
 
Echoed by The Jerusalem PostQs Web site, Israel Radio reported that 
Zeev Baran, PolandQs Honorary Consul in Jerusalem, has complained 
that ultra-Orthodox harassed Christian clergy and vandalized 
monasteries.  Baran warned that these acts could lead to anti-Jewish 
deeds abroad.  The radio reported that Baran met this week with 
Christian and ultra-Orthodox representatives in the Jerusalem 
Municipality to try and put a stop to the phenomena without 
involving the police, and it was agreed that the ultra-Orthodox 
representatives would act to curb the attacks.  An adviser on 
ultra-Orthodox affairs to the Jerusalem Mayor condemned the 
harassment, saying: "These acts are similar to anti-Semitic attacks 
abroad." 
 
Leading media reported that, in a precedent-setting appointment, 
Jamal Hakrush, Israel PoliceQs highest-ranking Muslim police 
officer, will become the deputy commander of the coastal region. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) 
took the Catholic Church to task this week, disputing "historical 
evidence" cited by Church officials as proof that World War II-era 
Pope Pius XII had worked to save Jews from the Holocaust.  The 
Jerusalem Post reported that Abraham Foxman, the ADLQs National 
(U.S.) Director, called the claim an Qapparent campaign of 
misinformation,Q saying that it is crucial for the Vatican to open 
Holocaust-era archives now. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  QThere Is No Deluxe Occupation 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (12/31): QThe 
High Court of Justice's decision, in a panel headed by Supreme Court 
President Dorit Beinisch, to end the ban on Palestinians using Route 
443 is one of the most correct and just decisions the court has made 
in recent years.... Over the course of 42 years of occupation, an 
approach has taken root which holds that the security and even 
convenience of the settlers take precedence over the property rights 
and welfare of the Palestinians.... As was to be expected, Knesset 
members from the right attacked the Supreme Court with the 
questionable assertion that removing the roadblocks at the entrance 
of the villages near the road would undermine the security of 
travelers.  These Knesset members ignore the principle behind the 
court's ruling and the rules of international law, which enable the 
military administration to violate property rights only if this is 
done for the benefit of the local population.... The barring of 
Palestinians from Route 443 was one of the ugliest aspects of a 
deluxe occupation. Real security cannot be achieved by roadblocks, 
fences and separate roads, but only by a fair peace accord that will 
bring an end to the occupation. 
 
II.  QCreate a Dilemma for Hamas 
 
Middle East affairs commentator Dr. Guy Bechor, a lecturer at the 
Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist 
Yediot Aharonot (12/31): QHamas has no interest in a prisoner 
exchange deal, and the ongoing negotiations only intensify the 
psychological warfare that it uses on Israeli society and magnifies 
its strength.... So how is Gilad Shalit to be released at this 
stage?  By using the mind, by thinking and by employing dilemma 
tactics.... The first dilemma we would be creating for Hamas: we 
would be revealing whom they want released, and even worse for it: 
whom they didnQt ask to be released.  This in itself would create 
chaos for Hamas with the families and the Palestinian public.  Let 
them drown in an act of their own causing.  The second dilemma: 
because Hamas has no interest in a deal but only in never-ending 
negotiations, it will face a terrible dilemma.... The families of 
the prisoners will put heavy pressure on it to wrap up the deal and 
to accept it, and it is liable to be perceived as a failure in 
Palestinian eyes, as a loser who was unable to achieve anything. 
With its own hands it will have lost all its achievements.  True, 
such an Israeli position requires courage and determination, 
something that I am not certain that all our leaders, and our 
public, have, but that is how negotiations are conducted in the 
Middle East.  The other side must be put into a dilemma and given 
the sense that tomorrow it will get a lot less than today.  Such a 
dilemma will force it to agree to the conditions. 
 
III.  QJourney to Nowhere 
Far left columnist Gideon Levy wrote in Ha'aretz (12/31): QGeorge 
Mitchell will be here soon, Benjamin Netanyahu has already been to 
Cairo, Mahmoud Abbas is on his way.  In the end there will be a 
summit.  In Washington they'll be elated, in Europe they'll be 
exhilarated, the settlers will fulminate, and the leftists will 
somnambulate.  Yet another scene in the theater of the absurd, 
another act in the endless grotesque burlesque.  Here we are again: 
The season of negotiations is upon us, negotiations that amount to 
nothing.... It's been a horrifyingly dreary tale of sterile 
diplomacy, a 40-year journey to nowhere.... The time for words is 
over.  Stop negotiating, start doing.  Lifting the blockade on Gaza 
and declaring a perpetual freeze on building in the settlements 
would do more than a thousand formulations.  Someone who wants two 
states doesn't build even one more balcony.  This is the litmus test 
of Israel's true intentions.  Without taking these steps, everything 
else is a waste of time, the time of the negotiators and of all of 
us.  Does Netanyahu mean to take any of these steps?  That is very 
doubtful, troublingly so. 
 
IV.  QImagined Deterrence 
 
Gabi Sheffer, a liberal political science professor at the Hebrew 
University, wrote in Ha'aretz (12/31): QThe prevalent assumption 
[among IsraelQs political and military leaderships] is that the 
Second Lebanon War, the bombing of the nuclear facility in Syria, 
and Operation Cast Lead have greatly strengthened Israeli 
deterrence.  The proof is the present quiet on the borders.  But 
then, almost in the same breath and without explaining the inherent 
contradiction, they all say this quiet won't last forever.  The 
conclusion: Israel must prepare energetically for the possibility of 
a military or terrorist outbreak, and even thwart it with a 
preventive strike.  The calls for such an offensive primarily refer, 
of course, to Iran.... Israeli leaders must stop spreading the idea 
that Israel has the ability to take decisive deterrent action and 
must initiate a military operation every few years to preserve that 
ability.  Instead of preparing for an attack on Iran, Syria, 
Hizbullah, and Hamas, the government should be investing a lot more 
in direct attempts to resolve -- by negotiations -- the conflicts 
with Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinians.  This would also reduce 
the fear of Iran to a large extent. 
 
¶V.  QA Taboo Question for Israelis 
 
Liberal columnist Larry Derfner wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post (12/31): QThe question we have to ask 
ourselves is this: if anybody treated us like we're treating the 
people in Gaza, what would we do?.... During the 2008 U.S. 
presidential campaign, Barack Obama visited Sderot, saying, QIf 
missiles were falling where my two daughters sleep, I would do 
everything in order to stop that.Q  Absolutely right.  I wonder, 
though, what sort of empathetic reaction he might have had if he'd 
also visited the Jabalya refugee camp that summer.  I wonder how 
he'd react if he visited Jabalya now.  And how would we react?  If 
we Israelis could go to Gaza and see in person what we've done to 
that place and its people, would we be capable of empathy?  If we 
thought of our children living in a country that was just like 
postwar Gaza, would we allow ourselves to think what we might do? 
We can't go to Gaza, but we have to start using our imagination.  We 
have to dare to put ourselves in those people's place.  And we have 
to stop doing to them what we would never allow anyone to do to us. 
Otherwise, we Israelis have no conscience, and little by little we 
become capable of anything. 
 
--------------------------- 
¶2.  Anti-Terrorism Efforts: 
--------------------------- 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
QAmerican Anxiety 
 
The ultra-Orthodox Yated NeQeman editorialized (12/31): QPresident 
Obama admitted this week that the [American] intelligence and 
defense systems suffered Qsystemic failureQ.... The massive 
terrorist attacks have put to a test the limits of American power 
and the fact that the strongest and richest army in the world cannot 
always protect its citizens.  America is vulnerable to an attack. 
Since that day [9/11] America has abandoned its invincibility and 
started to feel that even the greatest superpower cannot provide 
full security to its citizens. 
 
CUNNINGHAM